Hymenobacter tibetensis sp nov., a UV-resistant bacterium isolated from Qinghai-Tibet plateau

A brick-red-pigmented strain (XTM003(T)) isolated from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau was investigated using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the organism belonged to the genus Hymenobacter. The predominant menaquinone was MK7. The major fatty acids included iso-15:0, 16:1w5c and summed feature 3 (C(16): (1)omega 7c and/or C(16), (1)omega 6c). The G+C content of the DNA was 55.8%. In addition, DNA-DNA hybridization studies demonstrated that strain XTM003(T) had a relatedness value of 50.7% with the phylogenetically most closely related species Hymenobacter norwichensis DSM 15439(T). Based on the results of phenotypic characteristics and DNA-DNA hybridization studies, strain XTM003(T) is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Hymenobacter tibetensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is XTM003(T) (= CCTCC AB 207089(T) = NRRL B-51271(T)). (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.